A second body was recovered Sunday in the search for four children allegedly thrown from a coastal bridge by their father, Mobile, Ala., County sheriff’s Sgt. Jerry Taylor said. The body was found by a search team near where a duck hunter found the body of an infant about five miles west of the bridge in a marshy area on Saturday, the sheriff said.
Iran’s leaders agreed to answer all remaining questions about their country’s past nuclear activities within four weeks in talks with the U.N.’s chief nuclear inspector, his spokeswoman said Sunday. The spokeswoman also said International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei received new information on Iran’s “new generation of centrifuges” — a priority as the agency tries to establish how far advanced Iran is in developing the technology, which could be used in a weapons program. A diplomat familiar with the talks said investigation now was focused on the most delicate aspects of Iran’s past atomic work, including programs linked to U.S. suspicions the country conducted experiments linked to nuclear arms.
In a rebellion shaking the Sicilian Mafia to its centuries-old roots, businesses are joining forces in refusing to submit to demands for protection money called “pizzo.” The Mafia has a history of bouncing back from defeat, but this time it is up against something entirely new: a Web site where businessmen are finding safety in numbers to say no to the mob. “This rebellion goes to the heart of the Mafia,” said Palermo prosecutor Maurizio De Lucia, who has investigated extortion cases for years. “If it works, we will have a great advantage in the fight against the Mafia.”
The key suspect in the brutal slaying of a 20-year-old pregnant Marine was spotted in Louisiana and could be headed into Texas, authorities said Sunday. Marine Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean was seen getting on or off a Greyhound bus in Shreveport, La., Saturday night, said Shreveport police Chief Henry Whitehorn Sr. On Saturday, authorities said they recovered what they believe to be the burnt remains of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach and her unborn child from a fire pit in Laurean’s backyard, where they suspect he burned and buried her body.
President Bush said Sunday that Iran is threatening the security of the world, and that the U.S. and Arab allies must join together to confront the danger “before it’s too late.” Bush said Iran funds terrorist extremists, undermines stability in Lebanon, sends arms to the hardline Taliban regime, intimidates its neighbors with alarming rhetoric and defies the United Nations by refusing to be open about its nuclear program. “Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terror,” Bush said in a speech about democracy that he delivered about midway through his eight-day trip in the Middle East, which began with a renewed push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace pact – an accord he said whose “time has come.”
Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested Sunday that Barack Obama’s campaign had injected racial tension into the presidential contest, saying he had distorted for political gain her comments about Martin Luther King’s role in the civil rights movement. “This is an unfortunate story line the Obama campaign has pushed very successfully,” the former first lady said in a spirited appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I don’t think this campaign is about gender, and I sure hope it’s not about race.” Clinton taped the show before appearances in South Carolina, whose Jan. 26 primary will be the first to include a significant representation of black voters.
The chief of the U.S. military said Sunday he favors closing the prison in Guantanamo, Cuba as soon as possible because he believes negative publicity worldwide about treatment of terrorist suspects has been “pretty damaging” to the image of the United States. “I’d like to see it shut down,” Adm. Mike Mullen said in an interview with three reporters who toured the detention center with him on his first visit since becoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff last October. His visit came two days after the sixth anniversary of the prison’s opening in January 2002. He stressed that a closure decision was not his to make, and that he understands there are numerous complex legal questions the administration believes would have to be settled first, such as where to move prisoners.
